JAMES PATRICK MILLER

James Patrick Miller is Assistant Professor and Director of Wind Studies
at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA, where he conducts
the wind ensemble, symphony band, and teaches graduate and
undergraduate conducting.

From 2002-2006 he served as Assistant Conductor of Wind Ensembles
and conductor of the University Chorale at Cornell University, in
Ithaca, NY, where he directed the Wind Symphony, Chorale and Low
Brass Choir. His past faculty appointments also include Ithaca College
in Ithaca, NY and Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. Miller
also served as co-artistic director and founding member of the
Sapphire Chamber Consort, a professional vocal and instrumental
chamber ensemble based in Minneapolis, MN, from 2006-2009.

Very active as a clinician and guest conductor, Miller has appeared
throughout the Northeast and the Midwest with public school and
festival ensembles. Recent and upcoming engagements include: the
All-New England Music Festival High School Band (NEMFA), The Capital
Region Wind Ensemble, St. Olaf College Band Day, NYSSMA Area All-State Festivals, Massachusetts Music Educators Western (2010),
Central (2011), South Eastern (2012), and North Eastern (2013)
District High School Festival Bands, the NYSBDA All-State Middle Level
Band, the Connecticut ASBDA concert band, as well as district and
large ensemble festivals in Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and
Connecticut.

In 2003 Miller received national recognition by winning the American
Choral Directors Association National Conducting Prize at the graduate
level, and throughout his career with the Chorale at Cornell University,
the choral ensembles at the Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming
Seminary, festivals and public school ensembles, and teaching and
mentoring at the UMass Summer Conducting Institute Miller is also in
demand as a choral conductor, working diligently to promote a holistic
study of the art of conducting from both choral and instrumental
perspectives.

Dr. Miller has been involved in the commissioning of more than 30
works for a wide variety of vocal and instrumental ensembles over the
last 10 years, and his ensemble's performances have been noted by
such composers as Shawn Allison, Karel Husa, James Stephenson,
Steven Stucky, Judith Weir and Dana Wilson. Miller's mentors have
included Steven Amundson, Craig Kirchhoff, Timothy Mahr, Stephen
Peterson, Kathy Romey, Robert Scholz and Scott Tucker.

Originally from Winona, MN, Dr. Miller holds the DMA in conducting
from the University of Minnesota where he was named a College of
Liberal Arts and School of Music Graduate Research Fellow for the
summer of 2008, the MM degree in conducting from Ithaca College,
and a BM in music education magna cum laude from St. Olaf College.

Professor Miller has been affiliated professionally with the College Band
Directors National Association, MENC, Massachusetts Instrumental and
Choral Conductors Association, the American Choral Directors
Association, and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and
Ensembles, and was inducted as an honorary member of Kappa Kappa
Psi at UMass Amherst in 2012 and elected into Pi Kappa Lambda in
2001. Miller resides in South Hadley, MA with his wife, conductor and
soprano Heidi Johanna Miller, their daughter, Linnea, and their two
rambunctious cats.

One of the best music schools/departments in Massachusetts and in New England, offering graduate and undergraduate Music Education, Jazz, Performance, Music History and Music Theory degrees and programs.